Dress and mouth protector



Patented Aug. 21, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DRESS AND MOUTHPROTECTOR Daniel J. Petrucelly, Brooklyn, N. Y. Application September 7,1933, Serial No. 688,486

4 Claims. (01. 2-474) This invention relates o a protector or shieldwhich is held in the mouth and which prevents the lips of the user fromcoming in contact with a dress which is being put on.

It is well known in the women's dress-trade that a great many dresses,frocks, gowns and other articles of wearing apparelare soiled, whilebeing tried on, by the cosmetics now commonly applied to the lips bymany women. It may be less well known, but equally obvious, thatcontagious discases may easily be transferred from one person, who hastried on a garment and whose lips have deposited germs thereon, toanother person, who later tries on the same garment.

The main object of the present invention is to provide a simple devicewhich will completely eliminate these unsanitary and dangerousconditions. Another object is to provide a device which will neither becumbersome nor unpleasant to use. A further object is to provide adevice of extremely simple and inexpensive construction which will fitthe contour of any face and which, while protecting the user as well asthe garment, will not disturb the cosmetic which the user may have onthe lips.

These and other objects and. advantages will be readily understood fromthe following description and from the accompanying drawing of apreferred embodiment of the invention in which, however, modificationsmay be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims. Inthe drawing Fig. 1 is a front view of the preferred embodiment of theprotector,

Fig. 2 a cross-sectional side view taken on line 2-2 in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 a top view,

Fig. 4 another top view,

Fig. 5 a blank from which the preferred embodiment is made, and

Fig. 6 an end view showing how the protectors may be nested.

Referring now to all the views, simultaneously, I prefer to constructthe protector of cardboard or similar sheet material, and from a blankstamped in the shape shown in Fig. 5. In the blank the lip guards areshown at 10 and the members by means of which the device is held in themouth of the user at 11. The blank is folded as indicated by the lines12 and 13 so that it will assume the shape shown in the other views. Theouter edges of the lip guards are curved rearwardly, as plainly shown at14. An aperture 15 is formed in the blank before it is folded, and theblank is. preferably folded on the line 12 in such a manner that the lipguards will remain slightly separated, as shown at 16. Fig. 6illustrates how the protectors may be nested in packing or in anysuitable dispensing device.

The protector is used in the following manner whenever a dress, whichhas to be pulled over the head, is tried on. The members 11 are heldbetween the teeth and the edges 14 abut against the face outside ofthelips proper, or that part of each lip to which no cosmetic isapplied.

After the members 11 are inserted between the teeth a slight pressure,in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3, is applied to theends of the lip guards so that they will shape themselves to conform tothe contour of the face. This bending of the lip guardsis made possibleby the aperture and is plainly illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. Theaperture 15 and the space 16 serve the additional purpose of allowingthe user to talk and breathe freely while holding 75. the device betweenthe teeth, as the resiliency in the bend 12 causes the space 16 to openand close with the action of the teeth.

While for the sake of economy I prefer to construct the device in themanner illustrated and described, it is evident that it may be made fromother materials and by many other methods.

From the foregoing it will be seen that this protector is of simple,sanitary, convenient and inexpensive construction and that itefliciently serves the purposes for which intended.

Having described my invention and its objects, what I claim as new andwish to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A protector of the class described, comprising a pair of individuallip guards, a pair of spaced members extending rearwardly from the inneredge of each lip guard, said pairs of spaced members connected at therear ends and adaptedto be held between the teeth of the user.

2. A protector of the class described, comprising a pair of individuallip guards, a pair of spaced members extending rearwardly from the inneredge of each lip guard, said pairs of spaced members connected at therear ends and adapted to be held between the teeth of the user, and theparts of the lip guards between the said members having sufficientflexibilityto-enable them to be curved to conform to the contour oftheface of the user. 7

3. A protector of the class described, comprising a pair of individuallip guards, a pair of spaced members extending rearwardly from the inneredge of each lip guard, said pairs of spaced members connected at therear ends and- 110 to be held between the teeth of the user, the partsor the lip guards between said members having sumcient flexibility toenable them to be curved to conform to the contour of the face of theuser, and said pairs of members having suflicient resiliency to causethem to separate or close the lip guards as the mouth of the user isopened or closed.

DANIEL J. PE'I'RUCELLY.

